


Civilizing the Highlands

by Colosseum_Trash



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, I was inspired but now I give up, Raihan is a Roman Soldier, Roman Empire AU, Scotland and England AU, The northerns are "savages", What are Tags?, Wooloo, but scotland and england aren't mentioned o3o, no pokemon sorry folks, the northerners aren't violent just stubborn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21810847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colosseum_Trash/pseuds/Colosseum_Trash
Summary: Following the conquering of Southern Galar, Raihan- a Roman soldier, is called up by his superior to help bring Northern Galar under the Roman rule. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but a stubborn highland girl, a forgetful southern champion, and a god forsaken island wasn't exactly what he had in mind.
Relationships: Kibana | Raihan/Yuuri | Gloria, Raihan/Gloria
Comments: 12
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let's just say I got inspired and let's just say I decided to let myself write instead of actually studying for exams, and let's just say I'm jumping the life to come but I LOVE the highlands so much and I literally couldn't resist, so now you have to deal with me.

For maybe the first time in his life, Raihan was grateful that the country he had entered was already under Roman control. There had been no bloodbath that awaited his men as they landed on the shore and the looks they received from the locals were only looks of hatred and not that of the usual murderous intent he was so accustomed to. 

“So how is Galar treating you General?”

Raihan adjusted his armor and took a look around him at the town that was in the process of growing bigger by the day. He turned back to a strangely dressed man, with even stranger hair and yet stranger golden eyes and shrugged nonchalantly.

“Nothing is better than Rome.”

Leon, the man beside him, laughed heartily and slapped him on the back. “That’s exactly what they train you soldiers to say, isn’t it? As the mock-ruler, in the absence of a king or queen, I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying our hospitality.”

Raihan eyed Leon curiously. “Who said anything about that?”

A boy, roughly the age of eighteen, bounded up to the two of them and practically jumped into a squat and shook his hands vigorously. “So when are you Roman strangers going to go and invade the savage lands!” he said and began bouncing around the two of them. “When Leon takes full control of Galar he’ll have the Northerners begging at his knees, won’t he? Right Lee? My brother is the best soldier this world has ever seen!”

Raihan raised an eyebrow. Perhaps the best soldier this side of nowhere had ever seen, but certainly not Rome. Leon rested a hand firmly on his younger brothers soldier and gave him a warm smile. “You flatter me Hop. I have no clue what the Empire is planning on doing but one way or another we’ll confront the Northerners, and we can’t beg them to be hostile towards our neighbors.”

“You can’t beg us to do anything since we’re the ones occupying you,” Raihan said with a snort. “But you’re in luck because I think Kabu wants to continue with his attack on the North, though I hear that didn’t turn out well.”

“Well that’s because it was just you Romans taking them on, just wait until Lee and us join the fun!” Hop said, practically bouncing.

“I’d hardly call fighting fun.”

“Hop’s just a boy and mum’s kept him at home instead of letting him go off to fight,” Leon explained.

“How often do you attack the Northerners?”

Leon shrugged in response. “As often as we see fit. Occasionally they’ll attack us but it’s typically just to raid our villages and such.”

“They’re dirty little thieves that’s what,” Hop added loudly.

The three of them came to a stop and Leon smiled at Raihan, as he swept his arm behind him to the impressive structure that stood over them.   
“Welcome to the Castle of Hammerlock.”

Raihan felt almost nacked without his armor on and felt even more out of place sitting at a fancy dining table in a giant dining hall. It was certainly much, much more different than Rome. The table could sit at least 50 people, yet only six chairs were filled. At the head of the table sat a dark haired man with skin that looked like he regularly washed with olive oil, though Raihan doubted there was any of that on this godless island. 

Seated next to Raihan who sat on the left side of the dark haired man, they had introduced him as Rose, was Raihan’s higher up, Kabu, who had traveled to Galar maybe a year ago and started the siege on the island. It was at Kabu’s special request that Raihan and about three scores of men had made their way up from Rome to Galar. And here he was.

Leon sat on the right side of Rose and between him and a young redhead woman, an unpleasant blonde sat looking bored out of her mind. Rose took a drink from his wine glass and clapped his hands; at the sound servants came flooding into the room, holding plates stacked with food. Raihan smirked at the absurd fact that this conquered land was treating them as if they were guests.

“I am very glad you made it here safely Raihan,” Rose said as his face melted into a smile. “And now that you’re last piece of your set is complete, I’m assuming we can move on with business.”

Raihan turned to Kabu who was eyeing Rose with a cold glare. “There is no ‘we’ in this. Everyone at this table knows that if I give the word I can bring this entire country to the ground and start from scratch. You are under the Roman Empire now and you will be treated as Roman civilians, you hold no power over me and you have no power as a friend.”

_Man’s cold_ , Raihan thought and hid his smile as he held his own wine glass to his lips.

Rose held up his hands defensively. “Of course, I never said anything of the sort.”

“Bullcrap,” Raihan mouthed and took a drink and then refrained himself from spitting the wine on the table. The wine was a mile different from the wine back home. He wondered how Kabu was even surviving. 

Kabu eyed the food on the table. “Of course my job was to conquer the entirety of Galar so with Raihan here now, we will push for the conquering of this entire country and I will have it one way or another.”

“You managed to get us to surrender but you sure are taking your time with the highlanders. There are no woods for those savages to hide anywhere. It’s all just highlands and hills up yonder, one quick attack and the Northern lands will be yours,” Rose purred.

Raihan rolled his head back and mouthed, “bullcrap” one more time, but this time Kabu caught his ribs with his elbow. Rose snorted distatestfully at Raihan’s actions. “Why even wait for such a young arrogant man?”

Kabu smiled his snake smile and rubbed at his hands. “Raihan is my finest soldier, known as the dragon tamer for his superior strength and skill in battle, his quick thinking, and he has already had multiple military successes at such a young age. I doubt any of you heathens know what any of that means yet because the only battles you face are the ones in which peasants steal loaves of bread.”

“Are there no peasants in Rome?” the blonde woman said, her eyes trained on Kabu’s face.

“We call them slaves,” Raihan added rather unhelpfully which earned him another elbow to the ribs.

“On the morrow, I’ll send Raihan and a few of his soldiers to go scope out the highlands. We haven’t attacked them in a while but I’m sure they’ll be waiting near the borders.” Kabu turned to Raihan. “You’ll find their quite the friendly group.”

“I’ll aid him with some of our men,” Leon said, speaking up for the first time since dinner had started.

“How grand.” Rose smiled up and down the table. “Then it’s settled. Tomorrow you’ll take a look at those bumrags and tell us how quickly you’ll be able to take care of them.”

“Raihan will tell you nothing, and I will also tell you nothing if you keep that attitude up.”

“Ah of course. My apologies. A toast to the success of the unifying of Galar?”

The Galarians all held their drinks high and drank, but both Kabu and Raihan made pathetic attempts to pretend to drink that awful wine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we finally meet the highland queen in all her Gloria, haha - she's not officially introduced yet though >.> I actually really enjoy writing Gloria as a wild savage highlander and it has brought me much delight writing out the future chapters.  
> The argument between the northerners and the southerners kinda reminds me of the scene in Monty Python where the French throw stuff at King Arthur's knights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A score is about twenty men.  
> Fun Scottish/British Words:  
> Gormless - A person who has little clue or idea about what is going on around them  
> Gallus - A fine line between confidence and arrogance/bold or daring  
> Loon - Boy  
> Mawkit - Discostin'  
> Diddy - Spineless idiot

In his years of travel, Raihan had seen some fairly interesting things. From giant creatures to crazed toga philosophers, he really should have been less surprised by the fact that Galar’s popularly proclaimed champion and defender had managed to get lost within a five mile radius of the town he _lived_ in and had managed to find himself in the Roman camp.

Raihan pocked a stick into the fire he had made that morning and glanced up at Leon. “Are you sure you didn’t just come here to tell me to gather my troops and you just forget the message entirely?”

“I’m quite positive. My memory is a steel trap.”

“That’s obviously the case,” Raihan muttered and turned back to his fire prodding.

Leon tapped his foot into the dirt. “I was actually on my way to visit Sonia and I guess since I’m here, you could come with me to find her.”

The dragon tamer glanced up at the champion and quirked an eyebrow. “Is this girl’s house outside the city?”

“No, it’s actually near Hammerlock castle,” Leon said and tapped his chin thoughtfully.

Raihan was about to ask him how shot his brain was when the champion clapped his hands together and fixed him with a warm smile. “Right then, let’s be on our way. I’ll let you take me to her home.”

“I have absolutely no clue where I’m going,” Raihan protested, “and I have to be ready to go talk to these northern friends of yours.”

Leon laughed. “Of course you don’t, but your sense of direction has to be better than mine. I’m gormless when it comes to putting one foot in front of the other.”

The dragon tamer stood up and wrapped a silk scarf around his head. “Alright fine. But just because your shot when it comes to directions doesn’t mean you can come asking me for help anytime.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, I didn’t come looking for you, I merely happened to stumble in your direction.”

Raihan quickly adjusted the belt that held his sword and gave a longing look back at his tent where his breastplate lay waiting for him to put it on. He would have to get ready later, after he helped this senseless creature find wherever he was going.

Leon had already started walking towards the city and Raihan quickly chased after him as best as he could, his feet still unused to the uneven terrain of this new area. He came along side Leon and nodded at the boy’s boots. “Those look much better for walking around this area in then sandals.”

The champion glanced down at Raihan’s half exposed feet and shrugged. “I’ve never worn sandals but that sounds about right. Keep your feet a lot warmer that’s for sure.”

“True, it’s already blazing cold out and I guess it’s only going to get colder.”

“For sure,” Leon said and smiled at the soldier, “just you wait until winter comes in a week or two, your toes will snap off like twigs!”

Raihan blinked, puzzled at the statement but didn’t press the matter. The two made their way into the city, and after some difficulty, came to the town center where a well that looked much older than the town itself stood proudly, and the pretty redhead from last night stood alongside it. Her face beamed when she laid her eyes on Leon and she waved enthusiastically at the two of them.

“There you are! I’ve been waiting for quite some time you know!” she said with feigned disappointment as she trotted up to them.

“Well you know me, I’m pants with directions,” Leon said and laughed a little to heartily for his crippling navigational problems.

The girl glanced over at Raihan and gave him a surprised look, as if noticing for him the first time, almost as if her entire attention was focused around the odd-haired champion. She turned and gave Raihan a little curtsey. “Excuse my manners, my name is Sonia.”

“Raihan,” the dragon tamer said and bowed, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Sonia’s blue eyes glowed with a hidden magic and she twirled one of her long orange locks of hair around a finger as she smiled at him, causing Raihan’s heart to beat in an unusual way. The feeling disappeared almost instantly as she turned to Leon and an even stronger look appeared in those beautiful eyes. Raihan’s jaw tightened with just the slightest bit of jealousy at how the girl seemed to faun over Leon.

Dragons do have a love for beautiful treasure after all.

Leon clapped Raihan on the shoulder and gave him a warm smile. “Well thanks for getting me here mate, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You could have eventually,” Sonia teased and turned to Raihan, “it just would have taken him the next decade to find his way here.”

Raihan hummed at her comment, and quickly turned away from the girl’s gaze. “Well then, I hope you’ll be able to find your way to the meet up place to go have a talk with your northern friends?”

“Oh! You’re a Roman?” Sonia said and gave Raihan an awed look, “I’ve seen your comrades marching around but I’ve never gotten to speak to one of them before! What’s Rome like? What’s it like living in the Empire?”

Raihan felt his hopes rise for a second before he crushed them in his mind. She was simply curious about his country and his countrymen; that was all. He offered her a small smile. “Rome is Rome.” The soldier turned to Leon and gave him a swift nod. “I’ll see you around midday then? Make sure you get some help finding the meet up place.”

Leon laughed loudly. “No worries, Hop will find me before then.”

“Good. A good day to both of you.”

Raihan turned quickly and headed off back towards his camp, trying not to think of the disappointed look on Sonia’s face. She was merely curious; that was all.

At about midday, Raihan stood just outside of his camp, adjusting the last of the straps on his breastplate. At the sound of footsteps, he raised his head, half expecting Leon to appear lost and looking for directions again. Instead, the tired eyes of Kabu greeted him and Raihan saluted smartly.

“Half a score. You’re only going to confront them and if they try to attack you, you’re under the orders to retreat. I want to hear what they have to say, if they say anything to you.”

Raihan nodded as he processed his commands. “How many times have you attacked their front?”

The old man tapped his foot into the ground. “Enough times that they should be waiting near the border or close enough to see you coming. Enough times that I’d be shocked if they did say anything to you instead of attacking you outright.”

“I take it their half of the country is just as disunified as this half is, so they shouldn’t be there are full force.”

“Of course not, although, the northerners do seem to have a much stronger sense of community then this lot has,” Kabu said thoughtfully. “If by chance they do say anything, I want you to observe and hold your tongue. You have a tempered spirit and I know that tongue of yours has gotten you into trouble before.”

Raihan raised an eyebrow. “It hardly has sir.”

The older man shrugged. “Well then, you’re simply their to observe and listen to what they say. Let the southerners do the speaking I guess. I assume they’ll be more willing to talk to the country they hate then some stranger who appears threatening.”

“Yes sir.”

“Good, your men should be ready soon, and hopefully those posh southerners will turn up sooner or later. Good luck soldier,” Kabu said and the two saluted each other before the old man wandered off deeper into the camp.

“Hullo! Our band of merry men is on it’s way!”

The dragon tamer turned and frowned as Leon marched towards him, followed closely by his younger brother who was imitating him in an eerie way. As the Huns always said, monkey see, monkey do.

“I’m glad to hear that and that you found your way here,” Raihan said and turned his gaze to Hop, who had covered his face with a mixture of paint and dirt, making him look more animal than human. “May I ask what kind of medical technique you’ve applied to your face and for what disease you’re using it to treat?”

Hop’s face, which had been filled with eagerness, dropped a little at Raihan’s comment. “It’s not a medical technique! It’s war paint mate! Don’t you do this when you dress up for battle?”

“Maybe if we’re bathing with pigs, but otherwise no.”

Leon laughed and patted his disappointed brother on the shoulder. “There, there Hop, I appreciate your attempt to be deceitful.”

“You’ll certainly frighten them,” Raihan added and Hop glared at him.

“They won’t be afraid of me, those buggers have to look at themselves every morning, don't they?”

Raihan raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “These northern friends of yours sound like monsters the way you portray them.”

“They are!” Hop shouted and jumped excitedly on the balls of his feet. “The whole lot of them are demons and dragons and beasties!”

“They sound just like the Huns.”

“The who?”

Raihan shook his head almost sadly. “Nevermind.”

By that time, half a score of Roman soldiers had shown up, all of them standing in ready formation, and slowly, a band of the locals had begun to cluster around them. Leon crossed his arms and smiled like a proud father at Raihan. “My soldiers have shown up so that’s our cue to head up to the border.”

The dragon tamer glanced around and raised an eyebrow at the misfit group of men who looked just as disoriented as their leader. Then again, Raihan knew firsthand that farmers could be extremely aggressive and Raihan didn’t feel like today was the day he wanted to die, so he chose to hold his tongue.

“On your command then,” Raihan said and off they went.

The entire way to the border, Hop was exacerbating, practically bouncing circles around the group and only God knew what he was saying. Sometimes it was about Leon, other times it was about those vicious northerners, and then other times it was something completely different and Raihan could not for the life of him, understand just how the boy had so much energy. Leon let out a small chuckle as Hop made another lap around the group.

“He certainly has an unexpected amount of vigor in him.”

Leon smiled proudly. “He’s got the heart of a champion don’t you think?”

“Obviously since it has enough energy to keep him going like that.”

The fields of the southern region had gradually disappeared, giving way to wave upon wave of rolling highlands, all looking very much the same, with a small cluster of trees here and small cluster of trees there. Raihan wondered how it was that the Roman army had not already broken through the northerners line of defense.

The champion waved at an upcoming hill, where stones laid in a row in an uneven spacing. “That’s where the border line is. That’s where our half ends and the savages half begins.”

Raihan was about to make a comment about how easily they could just march into the northern side when a head seemed to pop out from behind the crude border line and just as quickly as it appeared, there was a second, and then a third, and slowly a mass began to crowd at the top of the hill. Raihan’s sharp eyes could just make out the scowls and swords of the northerners; their faces streaked with war paint. His body practically vibrated as it yearned for the heat of battle.

“Well they seem to be a friendly lot. Greeting us like civilized humans at their front door.”

“It looks that way, but if you get to close they’ll also escort you off their front door,” Leon said with a harsh bite in his tone. He turned and waved his hand for everyone to come to a halt at the bottom of the hill.

 _A smart strategy, giving them the high grounds and leaving us as sitting ducks_ , Raihan chuckled inwardly to himself. This only furthered his point that these men knew next to nothing about real fighting.

A harsh wind rolled up behind them and blew violently at their backs. The highlanders stared down on the small group of farmers and Romans with disgust in their eyes and almost a sense of pity. They all wore similar outfits, kilts of different colors that Raihan assumed differed clan from clan, but all kilts nonetheless, proving their unity as one.

“Hullo down there! Yer looking rather pathetic!” a girl with short cropped grey hair called down to them.

A bark of laughter rattled through the highlanders and Hop growled angrily from where he had wedged his way next to Raihan. “Those buggers, they think they can just insult us like that to our faces.”

Raihan smiled. “They’re risky.”

Hop nodded in agreement.

A farmer in the group waved a pitchfork in the air. “Well we haven’t come to your front for no reason! We’re here to have a talk, so if your blarmey leader would hurry up and make himself known we’d all appreciate that.”

Murmurs of agreements coursed through the crowd behind him and Raihan watched the crowd above, anxious to see just who the leader of such a well respected nation was.

Raihan was almost shocked when a woman, only a few years older than a girl stepped out from the crowd. He was even more shocked to see that unlike the rest, she bore no war paint and her red kilt, as they called it, was in a rather pristine shape. A black shawl draped around her shoulders and loose white blouse, giving her a strangely sophisticated appearance.

“Why do you pester my homelands?” she called out in a calm voice that sent shivers up Raihan’s spine.

A long silence bore out and Raihan’s face reddened as the realization of their situation sunk in. Of course they came up here and knocked on the doors of their enemies without any clearly defined spokesperson capable of making their answer clear. What had Kabu even sent him up hear to do anyways? Invite them to tea? The girl eyed the crowd below her and crossed her arms.

“Whatta way to barge in, yer a gallus lot, all bark but no brains. I bet you didn’t expect us to speak coherently did ya?” the girl said as a smile broke out on her face and a hum of laughter coursed through the highlanders behind her.

Again, no one spoke and Raihan felt rage building up inside of him. He had not been given the right to speak but so help him, if anymore embarrassment fell upon his legion he would gut not only these savages but also the posh little southerners as well. He opened his mouth to speak but the highlander beat him to it.

She pointed a finger at Leon. “Is this loon yer leader? Looks like a mawkit with hair like that. Don’t they have combs in yer half of this miserable country?”

Raihan allowed himself a small smile at the insult as the Southerners began hurling insults in defense of their battle champion; perhaps these highlanders weren’t as savage as he thought. Leon clenched his fists (along with Hop) and waved them at the girl. “If I was the leader of this lot I would have spoken up already.”

“Would you? Well blarmy. Yer beard would have made excellent string for my next kilt.”

A hush fell over the Southerns and Romans; Raihan shivered again. They were definitely savages. The dragon tamer took a deep breath and stepped forward, pressing his chin upward in a defiant manner.

“Seeing as my leader is absent I’ll speak.”

“Bloody finely. Ya could have done this five minutes ago and saved us a little time,” the girl said, her face unphased by him in the slightest. Raihan’s cheeks grew hot with embarrassment.

“Fine, I’ll admit we came up to your territory without much thought but we’re here now. I’m sure you’re aware that your southern brothers have fallen to our great Empire.”

The girl’s eyebrows shot up in surprise; the most emotion from her face that Raihan had seen since she had stepped out as the northerners designated leader. “Aye, is that so? They’re not our kindren mind you; I’d die before I called one of those stuck up diddies my brether,” at this the southerns hurled insults at the northerns but the girl held up her hand and silenced them. She raised her brown eyes up and stared hard at those below her, like a mother does when she scorns a child, and Raihan found himself a little bit more impressed with her than he already was. “But no, we’ve heard nothing about yer Empire and we choose to keep it that way. That bloody lot ya stand amongst has been trying to bring our kingdom down for decades upon decades and we did not fall then, we will not fall now, and we will not fall ever.”

Cheers erupted behind her and the girl waited for them to die down before she continued speaking. “It really is pathetic that those boneless cowards were conquered by yer lot and then they employ yer help to knock us down. But I’m warning you; turn yerselves around and don’t come back here; if yer looking for a fight, we’ll give ya one but it won’t be one you’ll be comin’ back from.”

Raihan crossed his arms, and shifted his weight onto one hip causing his sword to knock against his thigh, and again his body shook in anticipation of a fight. Pride swelled in his heart and he snarled up at the girl. “That so? We are Roman soldiers born and bred from the tactics used by the Spartans to create the fiercest warriors. You stand like pebbles in our path.”

The girl laughed audibly. “As if we savages would understand who the Spartans were, but I assure you, we could have ripped them limb from bloody limb anyday. Yer messing with the wrong lot mate and yer pushing my clan’s patience, so I suggest you turn hides and head back home.”

Hop jumped forward and waved a fist at the lot of them. “You’re a lot of daft cowards and I know we will live to see the day your cowardly nation falls at the feet of ours! My brother will reign supreme champion over this island!”

From where he stood, Raihan just barely missed the twitch in the girl’s hand and eye, as she stared hard at Hop, her glare just one step short from murder and who knows how close to going beserk. She turned to Raihan and smiled almost sadly at him. “I gave yer a chance to run.” She turned to the group behind her and pulled twin blades from the sheaths behind her back that Raihan had mistaken for a belt. “Highlanders! Get these scumbags off our hills!”

For a brief moment the world stood still before the angry whoops and howls of the highlanders filled the air and the many men and women that stood behind the girl exploded like firecrackers, charging down the hill at them at a ridiculous speed, blades drawn and prepared to draw blood. 

Raihan would have called himself a coward any other day, but he had only come up here with half of a half of his battalion and even he knew that despite their armor, the lot sent up with him was from the new generation, one that had not forged themselves in the fire like he had and if he did not move them into action, their blood would be on his hands. Raihan whirled his sword above his head. “Soldiers fall back to the city, double time!”

He gave one last look over his shoulder and saw that the highland queen was watching him, her brown eyes steeled from showing any emotion. Once more Raihan shivered and then turned and ran after his battalion, the entire group of southerners running with him.

Kabu raised an eyebrow at Raihan and seemed to ponder over his story for a while before he shrugged half heartedly. “You spoke to them, that was more than I was hoping for.”

Raihan smiled unhappily and stared hard at his sandals. “I don’t like running away from fights,it was absolutely pathetic, they chased us all the way home.”

The older man shrugged. “I gave you orders against fighting and you followed through them, so you should be happy with yourself.”

“With all due respect sir, I think that we could take the northerners easily. They’re all bark and no bite. And the southerners are just a bunch of pushovers who can barely hold a sword in their hand.”

Kabu turned and gave Raihan the smallest of smiles. “Normally I’d agree with you, but there’s more fight in them then you’d think, I thought the same thing when we first arrived here but here we are, a year into our siege and no ground has been made. They’re not a small force to be reckoned with, trust me when I say there’s a reason I didn’t send you straight away to fight them.”

Raihan’s jaw tightened but he simply nodded. “Yes sir. I understand sir.”

Kabu thumped a fist to his chest in a salute and Raihan returned the gesture. “A bid you goodnight.”

“Goodnight sir.”

The soldier waited until his superior had disappeared down the row of tents, and then retired to his tent. That night he tossed and turned on his bed, whether from anxious nerves or anger he couldn’t tell. The air was chilly and yet by midnight he had pulled everything off except for his lightweight tunic. Occasionally he would get up and step outside, turning his eyes up to the sky to take in the magnificent moon that shone over Galar and over the town he had left behind him that he called home. Though he couldn’t see her, he had the very odd sense that somewhere, miles away, the highland queen was doing the same, her shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders as she sat on one of the many hills in her kingdom just taking in the vast and expansive number of stars in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it just me or does Kabu seem to radiate Nanu vibes except opposite?  
> Just me, okay


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to add in a few of the other gym leaders and I think it's safe to say that I think every gym leader will be making an appearance in the story :3

Raihan’s shoulders tensed as he stepped outside his tent into the cold late afternoon air - which had been getting increasingly colder and colder every day since he had arrived. He took a deep breath and hissed unhappily as the cold air filled his lungs, causing him to cough. He absolutely _hated_ the cold and funny fate should have him be called up from Rome to this god-forsaken _and_ freezing island.

“You look cold dragon,” Kabu said as he walked over to the young soldier, looking much like a sheep in the native clothes he was dressed up in. Raihan snickered and quickly covered his grin by coughing.

“It’s cold on this island, sir.”

The older man blinked and bounced up and down as he jogged in place. “Ah, well maybe you wouldn’t be so cold if you were wearing clothing other than what you brought from home.”

The soldier looked down at the outfit he had adorned for that night’s dinner, his dress attire assigned to him for the army, and gave Kabu a shrug. Raihan thought he looked rather dashing in this outfit. “I’d rather look formal and freeze then look like one of the wooly creatures.”

Kabu raised an eyebrow at Raihan’s comment but didn’t address it; Raihan figured the man liked being compared to a sheep. “Well, we better be on our ways, that Rose man may seem nice but he makes me feel…” Kabu said and began walking in the direction of Hammerlocke Castle.

“Like he’s trying to twist your arm behind your back?”

The old man nodded stiffly. “And you’ve only known him for a few days. I should just set the army loose and murder this entire island. I’d be doing them all a favor.”

Raihan chuckled. “You’d be no better than the likes of them.”

“Obviously that’s why I haven’t done that yet. I’m interested to see what tonight's dinner will bring about. We will be meeting various lords and ladies from the Southern lands, and I assume we’ll be talking about what to do with the Northern land.”

“That’s irritating, we’re supposed to be in control of them, not vice-versa.”

“They’re a rather dense group,” Kabu muttered as they approached the castle gates.

Raihan found himself once more in awe as they walked into Hammerlocke Castle’s impressive build. The dark bricks that build the castle up captivated the dragon tamer as it was so dark compared to the warmth of the buildings back in Rome. He frowned a little as he thought that maybe the cold feeling was just natural of everything that came from this island. But as it was there was still something that drew him to this castle and the town itself and Raihan felt that maybe, if fate were to force him to live in this quaint little town, Raihan would happily oblige to stay there for the rest of his life.

The two Romans entered into the massive entry hall and Raihan gazed up at the extraordinary ceiling vaults and wondered just how many lifetimes it had taken to build this beautiful castle. His thoughts were interrupted by the soft clapping of Rose.

“Ah, better late than never, hm?” the man said jokingly, but there was a hint of distaste looping through his words.

In a normal situation back home, Raihan would have bowed his apologies, but instead both he and Kabu raised their chins into the air and eyed Rose coldly.

“Forgive us,” Kabu said and clicked his heels together, “it would seem we’re still on Roman time.”

Rose led them through the halls, once more to the dining room, which this time, was much more full of many faces Raihan had not seen before. At Rose’s presence, they all stood up at their spots. Rose walked with them to the head of the table and motioned to the two open spots on his left side.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to our wonderful guests, Sir Kabu and Sir Raihan.”

Raihan raised an eyebrow at the word ‘guests’. If that was their way of saying despot then Raihan could safely conclude that everyone on this half of the island was a complete moron.

Rose clapped his hands, once more drawing the dragon tamer’s attention back to focus. He motioned to his right where Leon sat. “This is Leon, as you already know, both Hammerlocke and all of Galar’s undefeatable champion.” There were some murmurs that went around the table, but as to whether they were agreements or disagreements, Raihan couldn’t tell. Rose continued with his introductions. “Next we have lady Sonia and lady Oleana…”

And around the table they went that by the end Raihan felt completely jumbled up with the amount of people had been introduced to. There was a gummy old lady, who’s tired eyes seemed to bore straight into his soul (Raihan would admit with shame that she scared him) named Opal and then there was Lady Nessa - who was quite beautiful but at the same time, challenged Raihan with her stare. Lady Melony and her son Gordie were both quite chummy and Melony wouldn’t stop complimenting different people as they were introduced. The last individual who caught Raihan’s eye was “young master Allister” who simply stared sadly at his plate looking like he’d much rather be somewhere else.

“If I had known we were bringing children,” Opal said, her voice a slow hum as she eyed Melony and Allister, “I would have brought my dear Bede with me.”

A collective groan went around the table and Sonia shook her head. “With all do respect, we’re here to get as much done as we can and I’m afraid young Bede would have tried to sabotage our plans,” the girl said and gave Opal a gentle smile.

“Pah! Rubbish! Bede is fit to be king of this entire island!”

Melony shot Opal a glare as she pinched Gordie’s cheek. “Your Bede is but a babe, my Gordie is a big boy now and it is important for him to understand what’s going on with our island,” Melony said and Gordie’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“And young master Allister is lord of many titles of land so it is proper he is here as well,” Allister’s butler said on his behalf.

“So is Bede,” Opal protested.

Rose sighed and drummed his hands on the table. “Well how about we stop arguing about who’s child is the cutest and discuss the real matter at hand.”

“I agree,” Opal said and stuck her nose up with disgust, “it’s about time we discussed what tosser has been stealing apples from my orchard.”

Both Nessa and Sonia covered their mouths as they held back laughter as Opal’s crude comment, the rest of the table staring in complete disgust at the older woman. Raihan was a little befuddled by it all, since these people constantly used words he had absolutely no clue what they meant. 

Rose rubbed his face with both hands and groaned loudly. “This is going to be a long meeting.”

Oleana, the angry looking woman from before was the one to redirect the conversation. “We’re here to discuss the Highlanders and now that we have the Romans on our side, we have some leverage to finally destroy them and unify Galar as a whole.”

“Destroy them? What good is unifying them if we destroy them.” Nessa spoke up.

“I agree,” Opal said bobbing her head in agreement. She slammed her fist down violently causing the entire table to jump. “I say we enslave them and force them to care for my orchard!”

Melony tutted and shook her head. “Why have unnecessary war and an unnecessary loss of lives? Can’t we just make peace with them?”

“They’re as stubborn as a mule,” Leon said, “They won’t make peace with us for a thousand years and they won’t unify Galar unless everyone of them lies dead in the dirt.”

Raihan listened as the conversation bounced back and forth. As a soldier, part of him wished for the thrill of battle and then conquering of those long, rolling highlands, but again he remembered back to the girl and her cold stare. If all of the Highlanders were as stubborn as her, they would not go down without a great battle and if there was a battle, there would be no way they would consider unifying Galar until every last one of them was slain. They were proud, possessive people, lovers of their Northern lands and their home and Raihan respected that. He would fight tooth and nail, would go until his last breath to protect Rome.

“What if you gave them a proposal? Surely there’s something they would want that could tempt them into an agreement with you?” Raihan said, surprising the entire table with the sound of his voice. “They would make powerful allies would they not?”

“And here I thought you were all bloodlust and no brain,” Rose laughed.

Raihan deadpanned at the comment and shot Kabu a look that the older man shrugged at.

“I… I second what sir Raihan said. Especially with the French becoming as rowdy as they are…”

The whole table turned towards Allister, who squeaked at all the sudden attention and hid his face behind his hands. His butler sighed softly and patted his master’s shoulder, whispering about how he was proud that he had spoken up.

Opal chuckled and turned to Oleana. “It’s adorable how they make up fun little things like the French when they’re young, isn’t it? My Bede does the same thing…”

Oleana’s eyes widened and she shot Rose a look that pleaded for him to help her.

Nessa poked at the wood grains of the table and slowly raised her eyes up to meet Raihan’s. “What sort of proposal are you suggesting we make?”

Raihan shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know. Is there anything they want from you?”

“Winter is coming and their harvests are never as great as ours, we could try food,” Leon suggested.

“I doubt they’ll give up their identity as the Northerners for food,” Gordie said with a flat tone.

“How about we kidnap their leader and use her for ransom?” Opal hummed thoughtfully and a murmur of agreements rang out around the crowd.

Raihan watched closely as Rose rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His face broke into a smile and he rubbed his hands together. 

“I think I might have an idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally everyone except the southerners are confused as to why the southern part of Galar thinks they have so much control over Kabu and Raihan but we're not going to question it for now. Gloria officially will be joining us in the next chapter :3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raihan is sent to capture Gloria weehaw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slang Words:  
> Diddy- Spineless idiot  
> Gallus- The fine line between confidence and arrogance, or something bold or daring

Raihan switched his weight from hip to hip as he waited for Rose to hurry up and explain the plan. The man head dismissed the gathering the previous day without any explanation and then had called Raihan to the castle that morning to give him and a few others the final plan.

Besides himself, Leon and Hop where also in the room, waiting as patiently as they could for the arrival of Rose and Kabu.

“Why’d pretty face ask you to bring your brother along? Or did he just come for moral support?” Raihan asked.

Hop bounced from foot to foot and grinned widely. “I dunno, Rose didn’t specify what he wanted me for but that means I’m gonna be as important as Leon!”

The dragon tamer hummed and turned his attention to Leon. “Do you know what that Highland girl’s name is?”

“The one that ran out in front of everyone at the border?”

Raihan nodded.

“I believe her name is Gloria,” Leon said, tapping his chin, “a real shame too, we southerners could use a good strong leader like her.”

“That’s why we have you Lee!” Hop shouted, exploding into the conversation.

Leon chuckled at his brother’s comment and waved it off. “I try my best.”

Raihan tapped his fingers against his hips and gave Leon a confused look. “Gloria doesn’t sound like a very northern name.”

“It’s not,” Hop and Leon answered at the same time.

In response to Raihan’s face melting into more confusion Leon cleared his throat. “I heard that a long time ago, her father was a southern herder and that one day he was captured by the northerners where they forced him to marry the daughter of one of the chieftains of the highlanders. I guess giving their children southern names was their way of compromise.”

Raihan pursed his lips trying to decide if he believed the story or not. It was certainly possible, but goodness knows how many things that came out of these peoples’ mouths he could actually believe.

The door opened and Kabu jogged briskly in, his tired eyes glancing around the room and landing on a chair by the fireplace where he sat down. “It seems Rose has yet to arrive?”  
Raihan smirked. “He’s probably thinking in Roman time.”

Kabu let out a breath at Raihan’s comment. “Let’s hope not. Think he came up with a good plan?”

“Maybe.”

The door opened again and in stepped Rose. “Ah, greetings.”

Kabu clapped his hands together. “Well let’s hear this brilliant master plan.”

Rose smiled warmly at him. “I thought you might want to hear about that. I’ve decided that we will kidnap the Highland princess and will use her for ransom. But in order to tie the bond officially we will be marrying her off to one of our lords. This way they will accept the unification to get their princess back but they won’t get her back because she will be ours permanently.”

The four others in the room blinked at Rose’s menacing tone. Leon cocked his head. “Who is going to want to marry one of those savages?”

“I was thinking maybe our local hero-”

“That’s absolutely bonkers! There is no bloody way I will marry myself to one of those savages!” Leon said, clenching his fists at his side.

Rose hummed. “Actually I was thinking Hop.”

“Oh, alright then,” Leon said as Hop shouted: “Hold on! No way!”

The Lord of Hammerlocke turned his emerald eyes towards the young boy. “By marrying the Highland princess you make yourself king of the entire unified Galar region. It’s a small price, being married to a savage but… if you don’t want to be king…”

Leon tapped his foot on the ground drawing everyone’s attention to him. “Why didn’t you mention this last night?”

The green eyed man chuckled almost nervously and waved his hand loftily in the air. “Tell everyone my genius plan in front of Lady Opal and risk her making Bede king? Or Allister or Gordie or any of them for that matter? I wanted you to be king Hop,” Rose turned to Hop with a charming smile. “So, what do you think?”

Hop eyed Rose suspiciously. “Hmm… being king sounds nice, the only problem is, how are we going to capture her?”

Raihan’s skin shivered as Rose turned his snake-like gaze to him. “That’s where you come in Roman.”

“How far in the country are these people living!?” Raihan shouted, pulling at his hair in frustration.

He received no answer.

“This whole island is bonkers,” he muttered to himself and rubbed at his arms, trying to keep them warm.

Rose had sent Raihan out on a solo kidnapping mission with the simple instructions of: ‘bring the girl back alive’ and there was nothing more. No further instructions on how to actually find the girl - Gloria, Leon said her name was, or how to take her without anyone else noticing. And Kabu hadn’t even tried to help him out of the situation.

“‘I couldn’t think of any soldier better of completing such a difficult task’,” Raihan said mimicking Kabu, moving his hand as if it were Kabu talking. “I’ve literally been walking around these hills for hours and have yet to see a single soul, which means I’m probably lost and will _die_ out here in these forsaken hills.”

Again no reply. Raihan groaned.

Rose had then announced that they would reform the savage that was the Highland Queen and in that way, would present Hop with an acceptable bride to rule Galar with. Raihan would be lying if he didn’t think Rose was scheming- but he couldn’t prove anything since this was what, only his first week or so that he’d been here? Longer? Every day was the same, cold, lonely and unbearably painful.

Raihan found himself debating whether to sit down and cry when a noise reached his ears. The sound of soft singing. With extreme caution, Raihan made is way towards the singing his head making up as many different scenarios as he possibly could - if there were two people he might have to kill one and then use the other to give him directions, and if there was one he could easily outmaneuver them and threaten them in order to figure out Gloria’s location, and then what would he do? Hopefully fall down a cliff and die.

Raihan shimmied his way up to the top of a hill and found to his surprise, a flock of sheep at the bottom and the highland queen herself. Just his luck; this would be easy for him.

The dragon tamer circled around so that the girl’s back was to him and then slowly made his way down in a creeping fashion towards the girl. He would sneak up behind her and knock her out; then he would return back to Hammerlocke and be sent home to Rome where he could finally have some decent wine and get away from the awful cold that was Galar. It was a perfect plan. And then he tripped.

The hills were a lot more bumpy than they looked, and when Raihan finally stopped rolling, he lay staring up at the sky, his body aching from the different rocks he had rolled over coming down. _Well this sucks._

A head hovered above his and he lazily focused in on their deep, creamy, brown eyes.

“T’was quite a tumble ya took there mate. Must have busted up yer head a wee bit, hm?”

Raihan jumped to his feet and drew his sword in one fluid movement. The girl pursed her lips unamused. “Fancy aren’t ya? What did they send you here for? My head? We’ve got prettier lassies then me back at home if you want a better looking one.”

“I’m not here to chitchat,” Raihan said sharply.

“The name’s Gloria, and you are?”

The girl barely had time to drop and roll away as swung his sword at her in a warning arc, his blade held like a delicate balance in his hand. “That’s none of your concern.”

Gloria scoffed. “Course it is, aren’t formalities a big thing in Rome- that’s where yer from, nah? This whole meeting feels a tad bit informal to me.”

“You’re quite irritating,” Raihan said and lunged at her. It was almost irritating how calmly she was acting about all this.

Gloria whistled sharply as she bounded over to her flock of sheep. “Go on you mangy flees!” She began weaving among the flock she had been watching, knocking them this way and that in an attempt to move them until at last they began to flee in all directions. “Get home and tell them I sent ya!” 

The highland queen ducked as Raihan made a lunge at her, attempting to knock her out with a blow from his pommel. Gloria danced a few feet away and fidgeted with some dual blades sheathed behind her. “Why don’t ya just take off my bloody head?”

“That’s not the point of my mission,” Raihan said, lowering his sword as he waited for her to draw her swords.

The girl gave an exasperated sigh and held up a finger for him to wait as she continued to attempt to tug her blades free. “Well then, may I ask what yer mission might be?”  
Raihan stretched and rolled his neck from side to side. “I’m supposed to capture you for the Southerners.”

“Oh, so you _work_ for that lot of diddies. Didn’t ya say yer army or whatever had conquered them?” Gloria pulled her blades free and leveled them out in front of her, her eyes blazing with a savage fire.

A smirk found it’s way on Raihan’s face as he held his own sword out in front of him. “Seems they don’t quite understand what that means.”

“You come to a bloody island in the middle of bloody nowhere. What did you expect? Learned-scholars? Nah, even the southerners have as little knowledge ‘twix their heads as a hollowed trunk.”

Raihan smiled warmly at her. “I’d love to continue this conversation but I’m afraid I’m wasting too much time.”

The girl returned the smile. “Ah, you didn’t even give me yer name. Might as well bloody get it over with then, hm? I can’t wait forever ya know.”

The two circled around each other, eyes focused on the other’s eyes. A quick movement would catch her off guard; Raihan lunged at her, swinging his sword in a wide and ferocious arc. The girl leapt back, not even bothering to block the movement with her blades. Raihan’s well trained eyes caught her second of unbalance and with lightning speed made another jump at her before she could fix her balance, causing her to fall.

Raihan lowered his sword point and held it hovering over her throat. “I think this is checkmate.”

Gloria smiled at him. “Ah buggers, I suppose it is.”

There was a loud crash of steel as Raihan smacked her duel blades away as she attempted to cleave his legs from the rest of his body. They fell useless to the ground where Gloria couldn’t reach them. “You can’t blame me for trying,” she said with a sigh.

Raihan hummed as he brought the pommel gently against her temple, but with enough force to knock the girl on the ground out. He stared down at the unconscious girl and then resheathed his sword. “That will shut you up for a while,” he muttered and then picked up her dual blades and returned them to her sheaths as he picked her up and flung her unconscious body over his shoulder. She was rather small and would make for one of the easier loads he had carried over his years of being a soldier.

The way back to Hammerlocke was long and even more tiring than the walk to find Gloria, and Raihan prayed that he would make it back to the castle before the sun set or else he would be freezing out in the middle of nowhere with an unconscious girl and for goodness sakes, he didn’t know if he’s headed in the right direction.

The sun was setting when Raihan finally found himself back at Hammerlocke. People threw strange looks his way as he walked past them carrying a strange girl dressed in the strange northern clothes of their sworn enemies. Raihan once more found himself debating whether this was all worth the possible promotion he would receive when he returned to Rome as he took in Castle Hammerlocke; candles glowing in every window illuminating it’s dark brick and casting fantastic shadows other it’s stone body.

Rose greeted him warmly and servants quickly gathered the girl and carried her off at the clap of their lord’s hands.

“Well done soldier.”

Raihan nodded tiredly and rubbed at his eyes. “What are you going to do with her now?”

The older man shrugged. “Lock her up I suppose.”

“Lock her up?” Raihan was shocked. He gave Rose a blank stare. “What good is that going to do her?”

“She’s a savage and should be treated as such.”

The soldier tilted his head in slight confusion, and crossed his arms. This was not what Rose said at all. Inwardly Raihan cursed himself for believing that it was actually in the man’s intention to treat his enemy kindly.

“You said you would reform her,” Raihan protested, bite in his voice.

Rose shrugged. “I doubt anyone can reform a Highlander, I would be shocked if it could be done.”

“With all do respect _sir_ ,” Raihan snapped, drawing out the man’s title in as belittling of a way as he could, “I’ve seen other men do the same thing you’re about to do and it didn’t turn out well for them and I _doubt_ you’ll be any different.”

“Interesting,” Rose said and raised an eyebrow at the younger man, “what do you suggest I do then _soldier_?”

The two of their eyes met in a fierce manner, the corner of Raihan’s nose twitching in fierce defiance; Rose’s stare as equally challenging as his own. How _dare_ this man even think about challenging him? Raihan quick thinking through what he was about to say. The girl wasn’t an awful human, in fact, she was one of the better ones living on this awful island, and in his brief time knowing her, Raihan had maybe taken a slight liking to her. But _only_ slightly. She was an outsider, like he was and he would see himself as an indecent human if he left her under the care of this green eyed monster.

“I’ll keep her under my watch and care, how does that sound?” Raihan said finally and Rose paused before he quietly laughed at him.

“If that’s what you want than so be it. I expect her to be reformed by the time the wedding comes around. Good luck!”

And with that Raihan was left standing alone in the castle, Rose’s loud laughter echoing around the empty room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all know Raihan is never gonna actually "reform" her because Gloria is TOO wild ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun language notes used in the chapter!  
> Gallus: The fine line between confidence and arrogance, or something bold or daring  
> Ken: Just another way of saying know  
> Fandan: Pretentious idiot  
> Jobbie: A turd  
> Walloper: An idiot  
> Glaikit: Someone who is gullible and/or lacks common sense
> 
> (I promise there's plot to the story T^T)

Gloria looked up from where she sat on her bed and gave Raihan a hard glare. “So yer telling me yer my new bodyguard Beanstalk?”

Raihan crossed his arms and glared at the girl. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Please stop calling me Beanstalk.”

The girl bounced up and down on the bed letting out an exclamation of delight. “Oh! It’s a wee bit bouncy!” She paused her bouncing and stared hard at Raihan. “Why should I? You never gave me yer name.”

The soldier sighed. “It’s Raihan.” Gloria frowned slightly and Raihan gave her an amused look. “What’s wrong?”

“Rai-Raihan,” Gloria said and repeated his name over and over again; each time the pronunciation was ruthlessly bad. Raihan snorted, earning himself a glare from Gloria. “It’s not my fault yer name is so bloody hard to pronounce!”

“Well maybe you should get better at pronouncing things.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll gut you alive Roman.”

“You couldn’t touch me if you tried,” Raihan said arrogantly.

“Yer mighty gallus for being a soldier,” Gloria retorted and then pushed herself off the bed. She landed with a groan and put a hand to her temple, where a lovely little bruise had formed. “My bloody head has been throbbing since I woke up.”

Raihan laughed as she glared at him. “My most sincere apologies.”

Gloria pointed an accusing finger at him. “Also, why should I trust _you_ when you’re the bloody chap who dragged me here in the first place, hm?”

The soldier shrugged. “Fair point, you don’t have to trust me if you don’t want, but it’s either me or that ‘crazy-haired man’ I believe you called him.”

The girl tutted in response. “I do hope this is all a wild nightmare and that I’ll wake up back home soon.”

“I’m sure it is all just a nightmare.”

“Save yer lies for when my family comes to kill ya Beanstalk. Now old chum, you said you were reforming me? What’s first on the agenda?”

Gloria coughed violently and banged her fist on the table. “This is bloody awful!”

Sonia flinched at Gloria’s actions and inched further back into her chair. “Well, I suppose tea isn’t for everyone.”

The highland queen eyed the cup of tea coldly and then snapped her eyes open wide. “It’s poisoned, is that it!? Yer trying to kill me!”

The redhead girl’s mouth dropped open and quickly waved her hands in the air, panicked. “No of course not! Why would I ever do such a thing? Oh my, I should have known better to agree to this, I feel awful-”

Her rant was cut short by Gloria’s loud laughter. She rapped her knuckles on the table and nodded at Raihan’s drink. “What think you?” she sat back and drowned the tea in a single sip. “It’s actually not half-bad ya ken.”

Sonia’s face was a sheet of white as she stared mortified at Gloria. “We _really_ need to work on your table manners.”

“No, we don’t,” Gloria responded firmly, leaning back in her chair. “I just won’t have any tea parties; problem solved.”

Raihan laughed at Gloria’s absurdness and studied Sonia. The redhead girl was absolutely flustered by this ‘civilizing’ session and seemed to be on the verge of going half-mad only maybe half-an-hour into the whole thing. Gloria, seemingly having lost interest in the tea in front of her, turned to Raihan and pulled at his tunic. “I’ve never seen one of these in my life. Where did ya say you were from? Rome?”

“It’s called a tunic,” Raihan explained and pushed her hand away, “and please don’t touch it with your grimey hands. I care about how I look to others.”

“Ah so yer a fandan, Beanstalk. That’s lovely.” Gloria sat forward in her chair. “What’s Rome like?”

Raihan was about to scold her for getting off topic when he noticed that at the mention of Rome, Sonia had also leaned forward, both of them unable to contain their interest in his home country. The soldier sighed and gave in to their pleading looks.

The entirety of that week, any time spent teaching Gloria how to behave properly at teatime was wasted as both Sonia and Gloria would plead nonstop with Raihan to tell them stories about his homeland. He had hoped that formality training with Nessa and Leon would turn out better, but Gloria didn’t seem to understand that she couldn’t greet someone with: “bloody weather looks nice” or “yer lookin’ a bit jobbie today” or in fact just drop a bunch of other rude Highland slang into a conversation whenever she pleased.

What made matters worse was that 1. Raihan had absolutely no clue what the words that spilled out of her mouth meant and 2. Nessa had started to pick up a choice slang word here or there much to Raihan’s dismay and Gloria’s joy.

Gloria tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Ya gotta say it with more emotion.”

“Leon is an absolute walloper,” Nessa said and Gloria tutted disappointingly.

“Yer not northern enough to make it work I’m affeared. We’ll work on that.”

Raihan looked between the two of them. “We’re supposed to be teaching her manners, not letting her teach us rude slang.”

“You don’t even ken what I’m saying Roman,” Gloria protested and raised an eyebrow at Raihan.

“Bloody walloper,” Nessa sneered and Gloria gave her a clap on the back.

“There ya go! That’s much better!”

Raihan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Seriously. You’re only hurting yourself more, when R-”

Gloria mimicked Raihan and rolled her own eyes. “ _If_ Rose bloody finds out I’m an ‘uncivilized heathen’ he’ll kill all my kinderen. I’m not uncivilized ya ken, we’re just different.”

There was a knock on the door and Leon stepped in. “Aren’t you done already? It’s almost teatime.”

Gloria turned around, and gave Leon a wide eyed stare. “I swear if I hear one more bloody ‘teatime’ I’m going to eat somebody.”

Leon laughed nervously as he closed the door behind him. “You’re still as savage as ever I see.”

“No thanks to you two!” Raihan snapped.

“Aw, don’t get yer knockers in a jumble Beanstalk, I think yer doin’ a dandy job.”

The dragon tamer glared at Gloria, who stuck her tongue out in response. Leon cleared his throat. “Rose requested you join him for dinner tonight to see how you’re progressing.”

Gloria’s face paled and Raihan’s momentary anger subsided into concern.

It had only been a week since Gloria has been kidnapped but it appeared that her first encounter with Rose had gone completely awry somehow, someway - Raihan had no clue what happened because he had not been there and Gloria refused to even speak about Rose. Anytime someone so much as mentioned the man’s name, the girl physically paled and began to shake lightly and Raihan quickly discovered the fight she pretended to have was simply a facade; not that she wasn’t vicious in her own way, but that she was more meak then she appeared. To add to that, something about Oleana also seemed to trouble Gloria, and whenever they ran into her, Gloria would drag Raihan in a different direction, claiming there was something else she wanted to do.

“Tell Rose she’s not ready for a formal meal yet,” Raihan said.

Leon raised an eyebrow in confusion. “I thought she was coming along nicely?”

The soldier sat back and shrugged. “I haven’t actually worked on eating with her, in fact I’ve never even eaten with her so I can’t say how reformed she is in that area. Please tell Rose that Gloria will be unable to join him for dinner.”

A deep sigh of relief escaped Gloria and she gave Raihan a quick look of gratitude. The dragon tamer stood up. “I think that’s enough lessons for today,” he said and nodded to Gloria, “how about a walk around Hammerlocke?”

Gloria was up on her feet in a second, practically dragging Raihan behind her. Only once they were outside of the castle did the weight seem to disappear from Gloria’s shoulders. Raihan glanced around as they walked down the cobblestone main street and smiled to himself. “They still give you strange looks. They’re scared of you.”

The girl glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Yer a glaikit, obviously they’re starin’ at you.”

“Me? They’ve seen me enough times already.”

“May be true, but yer a beanstalk with fangs; who wouldn’t stare at ya?”

Raihan closed his eyes, thinking back to earlier that week when he had smiled at Gloria and the girl had completely freaked out about his teeth. She had practically tackled him in an attempt to pry his mouth open to look at them. He shuddered at the memory.

“Fair point, I think you’re stranger though.”

“Ah, ya ken nothing.”

They walked in silence for a minute, taking in the city like it was the first time they had walked through it. “This is much different from my highlands,” Gloria murmured softly.

“I’ve been wondering actually, why _haven’t_ your fellow highlanders come for you yet?” Raihan asked curiously.

Gloria shrugged nonchalantly. “They are, they’re just takin’ their sweet time plannin’. They’ll show up sooner or later.”

“I’d say I doubt that but I don’t.”

“We’re a very lovin’ family.”

The two of them came to a stop at a bridge that ran over a stream and leaned against it, looking out into the farmlands of southern Galar. The stream ran softly underneath them, a steady, but gentle rush of water.

“Won’t be long before this freezes up,” the girl said.

Raihan scoffed. “It’s already unbearably cold on this island.”

She simply hummed in response and then: “Living in the highlands is a rough task,” Gloria commented almost sadly.

“Oh? How so?”

The girl’s gaze never left the landscape and she tilted her head to one side, considering the question. “Winter is harsh, my people are starving. We live as best as we can, but we’re so stuck in our old ways we can’t seem to change ourselves from them. We’re not all savages, just aggressive and brutish; we take pride in our lands and who we are. The southerners have cut us off from trade and no one travels up the coast that far looking to exchange a wee bit of goods so we manage between growing our own crops and stealing the southerners’.”

“You’ve survived.”

The girl laughed quietly and turned to Raihan with a smile on her face. “Have I? I’m quite sure I’m as dead as a barking rock by this point in time,” she said and turned back to the landscape. “Pap died three winters ago and mum has been struggling ever since my brother was born. He’s a strong laddie though and I know the highlands will be safe in his hands until I get home. What about you? Do you have any family back in wherever you’re from?”

His jaw twitched as long faded memories of a home rolled across his brain; ones full of laughter and warmth that were quickly devoured by cold, steel memories of being a soldier. Raihan shrugged. “Can’t say I do, unless if Rome counts,” he said and then winced, expecting Gloria to bombard him with a million more questions about his homeland, but instead she remained silent.

“If I may,” Raihan began, “why are you so open to me but not Leon or Nessa?”

Gloria snorted. “Maybe I just bloody well don’t like talking.”

Raihan rolled his eyes. “You can’t _stop_ talking.”

“Well I-,” Gloria began and then stopped. “Yer an outsider like me and I guess in this bloody posh place we’ve got to stick together.”

The cold wind brushed around them and Gloria eyed Raihan as he shivered. “You could use a schal or a cape or something. It will keep ya warmer,” she said and waved her schal around for reference.

“And look like a sheep? No thanks.” Gloria’s eyes suddenly sparkled with delight and she grinned almost wickedly at Raihan. He gave her a confused look. “What’s that look for? What did I say?”

“You know what you should try? Wooloo herding,” Gloria said, and giggled a little as she tried to pronounce ‘Wooloo’ in her strange northern way.

Raihan raised an eyebrow. “Try _what_ now?”

“Those pesky white mongrels yer kind calls sheep. Nasty lot. They go ‘baah’, ya ken what I’m talking about?”

Raihan’s face broke into a smile and then he shook his head as he laughed. “You’re impossible.”

“If I’m impossible you’ve got no chance at civilizing me _dragon tamer_.”

The soldier quirked his eyebrow and then gave her a wild smile that displayed his fangs. “You’ve got it all wrong, I _am_ the dragon.”

Gloria blinked as she seemingly lost herself in his beautiful, almost-electric, teal eyes, then quickly pulled herself out of his hypnotic gaze with a shake of her head and jabbed him in the stomach.

“Last one to the castle is a jobbie!”

Raihan rubbed at his stomach as he watched her take off towards the castle, both of them knowing full well Raihan would easily over take her with his ‘giant beanstalk legs’. 

“I don’t even know what that means,” he muttered and then raced after her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm alive? Yes? Maybe? Man school really hits you hard sometimes... there was supposed to be more to this chapter but I wanted to get this chapter out before I get back to learning so here is this chapter :3 it's just a fun little side story- next time I think my king Bede appears? Waah!
> 
> Fun words used in the story:  
> Glaikit: Someone who is gullible or lacks common sense.  
> Walloper: An idiot.  
> Bampot: Unhinged idiot.  
> Jobbie: A turd.  
> Hackit: Haggard, ugly.  
> Tosser: Supreme jerk.   
> Diddy: Spineless idiot.  
> Gormless: Complete lack of common sense; someone who has little clue what's going on around them.  
> Plonker: Idiot.  
> Neeb: Friend.  
> Loon: A boy.

“The highlanders are a savage lot.”

“You glaikit walloper! Yer forgetting I’m a bloody highlander!”

“Oh, sorry - ow! Gloria, stop it!”

Raihan sighed as he pulled Gloria away from Hop to prevent her from harassing him with jabs any further. “This is not what reform looks like,” he said and stared down at her.

“Not what reform looks like my bum,” Gloria spat.

The dragon tamer rolled his eyes and then turned to Hop. “I’m just coming along to babysit you both and make sure she doesn’t kill you. You said you had plans for today Hop?”

Gloria wiggled around in Raihan’s grasp. “Let me go you bloody Beanstalk, yer crushing my lungs!”

Hop smiled at Raihan in a way of thanks for controlling Gloria. “Actually I was thinking we could go out to Spikemuth Town and visit my friends there.”

“Sounds bloody wonderful, now let me go!”

Raihan released Gloria and she stumbled forward, taking in large over-exaggerated gasps of air. She pointed a finger accusingly at Raihan. “I ken yer trying to kill me you bampot but please think of a more creative way.”

“Sure, I’ll try,” Raihan said and Gloria growled at him as he turned to Hop, “to Spikemuth then? I hope you’re better at directions then Leon.”

Hop chuckled and gave Raihan a wink. “Oh don’t worry about me. Leon is absolutely pants at directions; on the other hand, I’m a map.”

“I bet we’re goin’ to get lost then,” Gloria sighed loudly. “Alright boy, lead on.”

The three of them left Hammerlocke and headed east, with Hop trotting happily in front. Gloria’s head swivel back and forth as she took in the southern part of Galar’s many empty fields that had already been harvested for the winter.

“I wonder how bloody far behind we are with the harvest this year,” Gloria murmured to herself and then threw Raihan a look over her shoulder, “t’is our fatal flaw; we’re all bloody lazy when it comes to the harvestin’ season.”

“And so you pinch your vittles from us,” Hop commented and Gloria jabbed him in the back.

“What’s that supposed to mean ya jobbie? Say that to my face and I’ll give you a walloping you’ll na’er forget!”

“Prithee, peace for three minutes,” Raihan sighed and rubbed at his face.

The peace lasted for about 40 seconds, broken when Gloria snapped her fingers as she remembered something. “Say Hop, remember when you and yer cowardly lot came to give us a visit? What in the name of bloody heck were you wearing on yer face?”

Hop looked back at her. “It was my war paint.”

Gloria froze in place for a second before she burst out laughing. “Ya call that war paint? You looked like a bloody hackit!”

Hop glared at her. “Put a sock in it you tosser!”

“Ya wanna go you diddy? I’ll knock yer brains out…”

“You’re awful gormless taking me on…”

Raihan once more pulled the two apart with a frustrated growl. “My gosh, please, for five minutes.”

Gloria stuck her chin in the air defiantly. “Don’t blame me, I’ve been trying since I met the laddie.”

The dragon tamer rolled his eyes but didn’t push the matter further. It was true, Gloria had been a very reasonable prisoner and had seemed to have made very interesting friendships with Nessa, Leon, Sonia, and Hop and _even_ though the two of them seemed to be at constant odds with each other, Raihan could tell that a strong friendship was already forming between them and maybe Rose hadn’t been scheming when he decided to set them up together.

“Do you two even understand what the other is saying?”

Gloria and Hop exchanged a look. “Sometimes we have word overlaps but I just guess what she’s saying half the time.”

The girl rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. “Aye, it's the same here,” she smiled up at Raihan, “and you understand none of it ya walloper.”

Raihan shrugged. “I know you’re insulting me, I just don’t know what the words mean.”

The conversation bounced back and forth as the three of them traveled onward and when Spikemuth came into view Hop began skipping along and then suddenly, dashed away, practically bounced into the town, leaving the other two to chase after him.

“Look at him go! He looks like he’s flying!” Gloria gasped, as they ran after Hop.

Raihan chuckled. “When it’s not you bouncing around it’s Hop.”

Hop had taken a small detour and was traveling towards a small little college that lay out in the fields. It was painted a soft sort of white-ish color and furls of smoke were wafting up in the air. A young girl sat on the front step of the house, running her hands through her black hair. She wore a white dress with a black apron over it, making her appear bland despite her intriguing appearance.

“Marnie!”

The girl’s head snapped upwards and a giant grin broke across her face. In a second she was up and running towards Hop. “Hop!”

The two practically collided together and wrapped each other in a warm embrace. Raihan and Gloria trotted up to them and exchanged a curious look.

Marnie held Hop back at arm’s length. “What in the blazes brings ye to Spikemuth?”

Hop guestured over his shoulder towards where Gloria was supposed to be, completely unaware if the two had actually followed him in his mad gallop or not. “I’m stuck babysitting a plonker.”

The girl’s hair swayed gently against her face as she looked over Hop’s shoulder at the two newcomers. “Which one?”

Gloria’s face erupted with rage as she was slow to process that she had just been insulted and she stormed angrily over to Hop. “‘Cuse me, say that to my face ya jobbie!”

Marnie giggled and offered her hand out for Gloria to shake. “You didn’t tell me you made new friends Hop!”

“I didn’t,” Hop muttered coldly and Gloria elbowed him roughly.

The highlander shook the other girl’s hand and gave her a solemn nod. “The name’s Gloria and I’d rather die than call myself a friend of yer bampot neeb.”

Raihan slowly walked up behind the group and gave Marnie a wide smile. “I’m-”

“This tall loon is Beanstalk,” Gloria said, quickly interrupting him.

The dragon tamer rolled his eyes and scoffed at her, leaning down in the Highland girl’s face and glaring at her. “My name is Raihan.”

Another laugh from Marnie. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you!”

A loud bang came from inside the house, followed by the crash of several objects on the floor and a moment later, a tall, lanky man with long black and white hair appeared at the door of Marnie’s house. His eyes were outlined with deep and dark bags and he stared suspiciously at the group outside.

“What’s all this ruckus goin’ on?”

“We should be asking you what all that bloody ruckus was about,” Gloria mumbled quietly.

Marnie gave a warm wave at the older boy. “‘s nothing Piers! Hop just brought along some new friends for us to meet.”

At the mention of Hop’s name, the already pale Piers seemed to visibly pale more. “Oh, sounds like a bloody shanty time.”

The girl let out a loud barking laugh that took both Raihan and Gloria back. “Piers was just starting to prepare a pot o’ curry for lunch, we’d love it if you’d join us.”

Piers frowned, his face contorting in confusion. “We would most certainly not.”

Gloria clenched her fists passionately and she snapped her head to look at Raihan, her eyes practically sparkling. “You’ve n’er had curry before have you? Can’t let ya stay here without trying curry, hm?”

Hop clapped Raihan and the back and bounded into the humble home, dancing under Piers arms. “That’s right Beanstalk, you’re in for a treat.”

“Gloria calling me Beanstalk is annoying enough, say that to my face again and I’ll spear you,” Raihan growled, shooting a glare at Hop’s back.

Hop paused just inside the doorway and gave Raihan a face. “What’s that Beanstalk? Your mouth is too far up for me to hear a word you’re saying.”

Piers grabbed Hop by the collar and began pulling him back towards the door. “Back out you go.”

“Wah! Hold on Piers, Marnie invited us in!” Hop said and waved his hands around in protest.

Piers sighed deeply and released Hop’s collar. “Fine.” He turned towards Gloria and Raihan and waved them inside. “No use standing out there looking like bloody daisies, come in. Cold curry is wasted curry, not that it won’t be wasted on you lot or anything like that…”

“Piers!”

Gloria gave Raihan a wide grin as they walked inside. “I like this loon, he’s bloody funny.”

The inside of the house was warm, cozy, and well decorated despite its bland outward appearance. The group followed Hop and Piers into the living room, where he gestured for them to sit down at an array of mismatched chairs besides the fireplace. Marnie brought out bowls for all of them and helped Piers serve their guests, before she took her spot between Piers and Hop.

Raihan raised an eyebrow as he watched Gloria attack her food bowl, noting that they needed to work on table manners as well as eating manners for their next step in the reformation process. He lifted his spoon to his lips and caught Piers staring intensely at Gloria. Gloria, having noticed it to, lifted her head from her bowl and growled savagely at Piers.

“Why are ya staring at me like that ya bloody walloper?”

Piers pursed his lips and crossed his legs. “Do you growl at everyone who looks at you the wrong way?”

Gloria blinked. “More or less.”

Piers huffed a laugh. “Figures. You’re not from around here.”

The Highlander’s mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged. “No! Ya ken? What makes ya say that?”

The white and black haired boy rolled his eyes. Raihan elbowed Gloria. “Where are those manners we’ve been working on?”

The girl gave Raihan a deadpanned look and then she turned back to Piers. “I’ve been kidnapped from my wee home in the glens. The fat pretty man wants to try to civilize me, but I think he’s the one being indecent. Bloody rude to kidnap someone and try to make them someone else.”

“Really? I wonder what Rose ‘s up to…” Piers mused thoughtfully. He turned his eyes to Raihan. “What about you? Where are you from Beanstalk?”

Raihan glared at Piers as Gloria broke into a fit of snorts and loud laughter. Piers held his hands up in an apology, though the smirk on his face said otherwise. The Dragon Tamer jabbed Gloria in the side, who yelped and muttered something like, ‘ladies should be bloody quiet’ and turned back to her bowl. “I serve under the Roman Army.”

Piers raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you’re part of that lot that’s supposed to be occupying Galar. From what I’ve heard Rose is doing the occupying part.”

“Piers, don’t bother him with that! You don’t know head or tails about what’s been going on!” Marnie said.

“No, he’s right,” Raihan hummed in agreement.

“Piers guess where I’m from!” Hop said, bouncing up and down in his chair.

“The swamp.”

The lanky boy stood up, bowl in hand and headed for the kitchen, throwing a ‘bring your bowls with you’ as he went, Hop right on his heels protesting at Piers cold remark. Marnie got up and followed after them. Gloria stood up and stretched. “So, did ya like it?” she said, nodding at his empty bowl.

Raihan shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s better than the rations I get.” He frowned as the words left his mouth, as he remembered once more, the truth behind Piers statement. The sooner they stopped being treated like guests, the sooner his rations would hopefully improve.

Gloria’s face was practically shining, apparently because Raihan had liked the curry. There was no rhyme or reason to that girl whatsoever.

In the other room, Piers had pulled out what looked like a mandolin and was strumming it gently. He glanced up at the two newcomers. “Care for a concert?”

“I’d bloody love one,” Gloria said with a charming smile.

Piers raised an eyebrow and ran his fingers slowly up and down the instrument, carefully placing them up and down it’s neck like a dance. He slowly picked up the cadence and the pace until the music was no longer sweat and gentle, but a raging thunderstorm, bolts of lightning striking left and right. Just like a storm, the music slowly died away and Piers looked up at the two of them.

Gloria placed her hands on her hips and gave Piers a questioning look. “What’s this called? Yer making a mockery of classical music aren’t ye?”

Piers shook his head. “‘s called rock girlie.”

Gloria’s mouth opened in an ‘o’ and she smiled at Piers. “Well then rock on I guess.”

The sun was setting as the trio from Hammerlocke stood outside Piers’ and Marnie’s door. Marnie seemed to glow as she gave them a warm smile and took each of their hands in turn, saying goodbye to each of them.

“Come again any time!” she said happily.

Piers sighed. “Please don’t. Socialization makes me bloody tired.”

Hop jumped up and down and pumped his hands in the air. “For sure! We’ll come back soon!”

“Gosh no,” Piers said, his face full of disgust.

Raihan turned to begin their road back, shouting a thanks once more before he headed down the road. Gloria trotted alongside next to him and she gave him a big smile. “That, was bloody fun.”

Hop came bouncing on the other side of Raihan. “Yeah! Let’s do it again!”

Raihan rolled his eyes. “I’m ready for a nap. You two are exhausting,” he muttered, trying to sound as annoyed as possible.

“Suit yourself glaikit.”

The dragon tamer eyed Gloria out of the corner of his eye, noting how a small smile would appear on and off her face and how much more comfortable she seemed. He looked back up towards Hammerlocke and smiled to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully with online learning I'll get around to writing a wee bit more T^T Thanks to all you beautiful people who have stuck with this story, book marked and given kudos. It really means a lot to me <3 stay safe and stay healthy lovelies!


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